Openings › Mate in one › June 2026 › Exercise 4 of 4
Mate in one: Black to move (exercise m1-a98b9de1fe)
Black to move and mate in one. In this position Black can give checkmate with one move. The position comes from a rated Lichess game of June 2026.
Last move: 34.Bc4 (White's bishop from e2 to c4); its two squares are marked on the board.
Pick a piece, then its square. Keyboard: Tab to the board, arrow keys to move, Enter or Space to pick.
Hint 1: which piece?
Look for a bishop move.
Hint 2: which square?
The mating move goes to c2.
Show the solution
One move gives checkmate:
- Bc2# (g6 to c2). After this move, the black bishop on c2 gives check to the white king on b3, and White has no legal move: checkmate. The white king on b3 has no safe square to go to (a2, a3, a4, b2, b4, c2, c3 and c4). Its own pawn on a2 and bishop on c4 stand in the way. a4 is covered by the black bishop on c2. b2 is covered by the black bishop on a3. c3 is covered by the black pawn on b4. The king may not take the black bishop on a3: the black pawn on b4 guards a3. The king may not take the black pawn on b4: the black bishop on a3 guards b4. The black bishop on c2 cannot be captured: the king may not take it, as the black rook on d2 guards c2. The black bishop on c2 stands right next to the king, so nothing can be put in between.
Our code tried every legal move of Black in this position: this is the only move that gives checkmate.
The position as text
- Black to move.
- Last move: 34.Bc4.
- White: king b3; rook g1; bishops c4, g7; pawns a2, a5, f4, h4.
- Black: king c8; rook d2; bishops a3, g6; pawns b4, f7.
- Castling: no longer allowed for either side.
- FEN:
2k5/5pB1/6b1/P7/1pB2P1P/bK6/P2r4/6R1 b - - 3 34
Where this exercise comes from
The position comes from a rated game in our sample of the Lichess open database (CC0 1.0), from the monthly file of June 2026. In that game Black gave checkmate with the next move. We show no player names and no link to the game. Our code tried every legal move of the position and lists every move that gives checkmate; the list, the hints and the explanations are checked again each time the site is built. How the exercises are chosen: Mate in one and How it works.